Building a Better City: What's Working Now

The city of the future is already here. We just need to want to make it happen.

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Energy

As much as 40 percent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions comes from coal-burning power plants, the vast majority of which serve big cities. Though the industry likes to trumpet “clean coal,” it's pretty much a mirage at this point. We could save money, add health benefits, and cut emissions by converting at least some of these plants to natural gas for non–peak power generation and replacing the rest with renewables such as wind and solar. As much as possible, these should be near cities and near existing power lines. Better yet is “distributed generation,” which places energy sources where they’re used, such as on roofs and atop parking lots. There are alsopromisingrecentadvances in converting garbage into transport fuel and electricity without the noxious emissions of the old trash-to-energy method, combustion. Places with geothermal heat sources, like Reykjavik—which gets 26 percent of its power and 95 percent of its heating from underground—need to exploit that clean, cheap, and virtually eternal resource. Also: All that steam coming out of the tops of buildings in winter? It's "waste heat," which can be captured and used. Whatever the source, locally oriented microgrids and smart meters that track power usage in real time can maximize energy efficiency.

(Illustration by Thomas Porostocky)

Buildings

Constructing buildings is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, and once built, the energy they use pours even more into the atmosphere. Reusing or recycling materials can help; both are made easier by prefabricating structures at a central location, which reduces wood waste and eases recycling. More new buildings and retrofits are being done to LEED standards, with more efficient insulation, lighting, air-conditioning, and water-heating systems, all of which reduce the amount of energy they draw over their lifetimes. Placing affordable housing near transit systems, analysts have found, can further reduce GHG emissions by lowering vehicle-miles traveled. Designing and placing buildings to absorb or reflect heat, depending on the climate, helps too. Don’t overlook building tops: “Cool” roofs that reflect heat minimize the need for AC, while “green” roofs full of plants, including food crops, provide insulation (as well as a nice place to have lunch).

(Illustration by Thomas Porostocky)

Transportation

Automobiles are one of the biggest sources of urban air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, not to mention the choking traffic they create. There are not only alternatives, but better alternatives: Locals can be coaxed out of their cars with light-rail, subway systems, and dedicated bus lanes. In Curitiba, Brazil, buses run every 90 seconds, making the city's transportation system one of the most heavily used, lowest-cost systems in the world. In Shenzhen, China, electric buses are charged by wind farms overnight, acting as storage for the grid during periods of low demand and reducing pollution during periods of high traffic density. Light-rail in Salt Lake City reduced traffic congestion, GHG emissions, and pollution—all while wiping $23.6 million from what the University of Utah was spending to maintain its parking lots and garages.

More adventurous types will take to two wheels—if bicycling is made safer and more appealing through ample dedicated bike lanes and sharing programs like Montreal’s pioneering Bixi bikes (and similar programs now in Chicago, New York, and Barcelona). “Casual Carpool” pickup areas encourage ride sharing and—like walkable neighborhoods clustered around public transit and dense with shops and residences—help build community.

(Illustration by Thomas Porostocky)

Water

Considering what scientists are predicting for the American West, it has an opportunity to become a model for the world in the equally critical areas of water sourcing and conservation. Water is heavy, and infrastructure to move it is costly: As much as possible, it should be used where nature puts it. In chronically dry places like the Southwest, that means offering rebates for homeowners who convert their lawns into climate-appropriate landscaping, as Los Angeles is doing to help reduce the 54 percent of water use there that is outdoors. Next door, Orange County has been a pioneer in reusing wastewater—it already supplies water to 2.4 million people this way. “Water source substitution” south of Brisbane, Australia, means homes with rainwater harvesting systems and street-level swales instead of concrete guttering. Building codes need to be revised to allow for (and in some places require) graywater piping that allows anything not coming from a toilet to go to outdoor irrigation.

(Illustration by Thomas Porostocky)

Land Use

City streets can be so much more than just runways for cars. They can be built with permeable concrete that lets rainwater percolate through to replenish aquifers instead of being flushed down sewers, “cool” paving that reflects heat rather than absorbs it, and bioswales—vegetated street-side ditches that capture and filter storm-water runoff. They can even be built to save power: The Dutch city of Oss is home to a glow-in-the-dark “smart highway” painted with photoluminescing powder that loads up on sunlight during the day, reducing the need for streetlights. Wherever possible, paved areas should be decked with trees, which reduce heat-trapping, provide shade, and absorb carbon dioxide.

(Illustration by Thomas Porostocky)

Food

Transporting eats to cities from farms and factories around the world requires titanic amounts of energy. A better approach is to maximize the amount that comes in from nearby areas or from within the city itself: Boston's 55,000-square-foot Higher Ground Farm delivers, by bike, fresh produce to local restaurants. Farmers markets, community gardens, and other forms of urban agriculture help too. Before you know it, you’ll be eating a salad grown with captured rainwater on that green roof while admiring the bicycle traffic on the cool-paved street below.

Awe-Inspiring Moments From the Biggest Climate Change March in History

On Sunday, more than 300,000 New Yorkers—from Hurricane Sandy survivors and Native American tribe members to kids and their parents—took to the streets of midtown Manhattan for the People’s Climate March. Armed with banners, tubas, and drums, they demanded action on climate change from leaders. The march is being called the largest movement on the issue in history.

The city will now begin to tackle an even bigger undertaking: cutting 80 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. According to Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Big Apple will be the largest city in the world to make such a commitment. He’ll announce it before the United Nations Climate Summit begins on Tuesday, when 100 national leaders convene in New York City to devise a plan of attack against climate change.

“Realizing this vision will not be easy,” de Blasio said in a statement. “The change will come building by building, block by block, and neighborhood by neighborhood.”

People in other parts of the planet—from London to Kathmandu, Nepal—are getting ready to tackle climate change too. As Sam Barrat, a campaign director who helped organize the march in New York, put it, “Climate change is no longer an environmental issue; it’s an everybody issue.” Here are some of the most inspiring moments from Sunday’s historic march.

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Some 3.5 billion people—more than half the human race today—live in cities, and that number is growing fast. From the suburbs of Phoenix to the slums of Cairo, 60 million people are moving into urban areas every year.

In some ways, that’s terrible news for the environment. Urban areas consume most of the energy used every year and spew out as much as 70 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations. But looked at another way, cities can be more planet-friendly than suburbs or rural communities, thanks to population density and economies of scale. Providing power, water, and goods to large numbers of people is much more efficient when they’re all clustered together, sharing roads, rail networks, and power grids.

All of which means that one of the key questions facing us today is, how can we minimize the environmental costs of urban areas while maximizing their benefits? How, in short, can we make cities sustainable? Click through to see how new ideas, new approaches, and new technologies are transforming everything from the office buildings to the storm drains below, and how these can be interlinked to make cleaner, greener cities with healthier, happier residents.

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TakePart is the digital news and lifestyle magazine from Participant Media, the company behind such acclaimed documentaries as CITIZENFOUR, An Inconvenient Truth, and Food, Inc. and feature films including Lincoln and Spotlight.